grip
the crew member responsible for setting up dolly tracks and camera cranes, erecting scaffolding, moving props or scenery, or the adjustment or maintenance of any other production equipment on the set - a physically demanding job; the key grip is the head grip who coordinates all of the other grips in the crew, and receives direction from the gaffer or head lighting technician; the key grip's right-hand assistant is known as the best boy grip
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gross
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refers to the box-office take - the total amount of money taken in during theatrical release, not including earnings from film rentals or sales, or the entire profit made by a film
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grotesque
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a term originally coined by Federico Fellini to describe the bizarre-looking or deformed background characters in his films; a grotesque is a live-action caricature with exaggerated features, but not necessarily to be viewed as frightening or sinister
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Examples: Most of Fellini's films have an eye for the "grotesque", such as Fellini - Satyricon (1970), Fellini's Roma (1972), Amarcord (1974), and City of Women (1981)
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guerrilla film
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a low-budget film usually shot without seeking location permits, using non-SAG (Screen Actors Guild) actors, etc.
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Example: Student films
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'guilty pleasure' films
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an escapist film that engenders low expectations (usually an awful B-movie or a critically-lambasted film) that the public enjoys despite or, more likely, because of its flaws; these are often quite personal film choices that are sometimes embarrassing to admit. Universally-loved 'guilty pleasure' films become cult films. See also flop and B-movie
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Examples: Teen movies, various horror films, sappy romances, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), Flash Gordon (1980), Supergirl (1984), Cocktail (1988), Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe (1995), Showgirls (1996), William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996), Anaconda (1997), Wild Things (1998), and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
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handheld shot
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a shot taken with a handheld camera or deliberately made to appear unstable, shaky or wobbly; often used to suggest either documentary footage, 'realism,' news reporting, cinema verite, or amateur cinematography; contrast with Steadicam
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Frequently exaggerated and currently overused, such as in The Blair Witch Project (1999)
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Hays Code
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named after Will Hays, a series of rigid censorship restrictions imposed on films by the Motion Picture Production Code (MPPC) beginning in mid-1934, and enforced/administered by Joseph Breen (in the Breen Office); the code had existed since the late 1920s but wasn't vigorously enforced, and it basically lasted until the late 1960s; the Code explicitly prescribed what couldn't be shown in films, i.e., "nakedness and suggestive dances," "methods of crime," "alleged sex perversion," "illegal drug use," "scenes of passion," "excessive and lustful kissing...", "miscegenation," "pointed profanity," etc.
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Examples: Film that were among the first to be censored for their alleged objectionable material included any of Mae West's works (I'm No Angel (1933)), Baby Face (1933), and the early Weissmuller/Maureen O'Sullivan film Tarzan and His Mate (1934) - which had its nude swimming scene cut; in later installments of the Tarzan/Weissmuller films, Jane's scanty clothing and nudity, and rampant sexuality with Tarzan, would disappear.
Before (1934)
and After (1941)
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head-on shot
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a shot in which the action moves or comes directly toward or at the camera, to enhance the audience's feelings of participation; works well with 3-D films; also may refer to a head shot
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helicopter shot
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a moving shot, often breathtaking; an establishing shot from a bird's eye view or from overhead, usually taken from a helicopter - due to its maneuverability, the shot may pan, arc, or sweep through a landscape; many films open with a helicopter shot (often under the credits)
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Examples: the final shot from a Wonkavator high above the city's rooftops in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), or in The Shining (1980) the trailing of a lone car driving through the Rockies to the Overlook Hotel; or in Working Girl (1988) the opening credits' long arcing shot around the Statue of Liberty before trailing the Staten Island Ferry 
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helm
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terms used to refer to the director (aka helmer) of a film
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hero/heroine
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refers to the major male and female protagonists in a film with whom the audience identifies and sympathizes. Character traits often include being young, virtuous, handsome, pretty, etc.; contrast with the antagonist or heavy (the villain or evil force).
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The underdog hero, Rocky Balboa in Rocky (1976)
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high-angle shot
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a shot in which the subject or scene is filmed from above and the camera points down on the action, often to make the subject(s) small, weak and vulnerable; contrast to low-angle shot
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Example: in the opening of Force of Evil (1948), a high-angle (overhead) camera view of towering skyscrapers surrounding St. Andrew's Church near Wall Street
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'high-concept'
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refers to the saleable or marketable elements of a film; a high concept (actually low-concept in practice) refers to a film's main premise expressed as a simple formula in just a few words (as a one-liner) that can be easily understood by all; this idea portrays a shallow, condescending attitude toward undiscriminating film audiences by Hollywood's marketers and often results in having film content controlled by what appeals to the lowest common denominator type market; see also logline (also known as premise)
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Example: A successful lawyer cheats on his wife with a beautiful psychopath, in Fatal Attraction (1987); or fish-out-of-water Detroit cop in Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills Cop (1984); or a blue-collar welder during the day passionately aspires to be a dancer at night, in Flashdance (1983) (above); or the "gimmicky" pairing of improbable twins Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in Twins (1988); or Braveheart (1995) - an epic love story and swashbuckler on the Scottish battle plain
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high-definition
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an on screen television image that will appear in a ratio of 16:9 compared to today's analog signal ratio of 4:3; the image will be 'high-def' due to increased lines of resolution (e.g., 1080 lines rather than the 525 of analog)
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highlighting
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the use of thin beams of light to illuminate selected or limited parts of the subject (e.g., an actress' eyes)
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hike
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slang term for the following verbs, meaning "to increase", "to raise" or "to promote"
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hitting a mark
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an actor's term for moving to the correct, predetermined position during rehearsals and during camera takes so that the camera can smoothly record the action; 'mark' refers to pieces of crossed tape on the floor to signify positions
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hold over
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the term used by a director for an actor used for an extra day
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homage
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usually a respectful tribute to someone or something; this often occurs within one movie when a reference is made to another film's scene, image, etc.
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Examples: Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog (1991) pays tribute to German Expressionism and classic b/w horror films, including Cat People (1942) and Freaks (1932); also the final shot of The Grifters (1990), paying homage to The Maltese Falcon (1941)
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hoofer
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a slang term denoting a dancer
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Examples: 'hoofers' in Busby Berkeley's dance production numbers
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horror (films)
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a popular film genre designed to frighten and thrill with familiar elements (monsters, killers, vampires, zombies, aliens, mad scientists, the devil or demons, etc.), gothic qualities or settings (e.g., castles), psychological terror, etc.; initially influenced by German expressionism; subgenre types include slasher films, occult films, and gore-fests; often combined with the sci-fi genre
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Examples: the Universal horror classics: Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933)
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horse opera
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general slang for a western film, not for a "singing cowboy" film; also known as an oater (for the food that horses eat)
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Examples: Stagecoach (1939), My Darling Clementine (1946), Red River (1948), High Noon (1952), Shane (1953), The Searchers (1956), Ride the High Country (1962), The Wild Bunch (1969), Little Big Man (1970), Dances With Wolves (1990)
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hybrid (film)
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a film or production that combines or intersects two or more distinct genre types, and cannot be categorized by a single genre type; see also cross-over
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Examples: Little Shop of Horrors (1986) (musical plus horror); Westworld (1973) (sci-fi plus western); Blade Runner (1982) (sci-fi plus film noir); Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (animation plus film noir);
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hype
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the abbreviation for hyperbole; refers to manufactured promotional buzz and excessive advertising/marketing for a film or project, including celebrity appearances, radio and TV spots or interviews, and other ploys; a similar word - hypo - means to increase or boost
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iconography
(or icon)
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the use of a well-known symbol or icon; a means to analyze the themes and various styles in a film
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Example: in films, a star's persona can be iconographic; or this still photo of Marilyn Monroe in an iconographic pose from The Seven Year Itch (1955)
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image
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generally refers to the picture that is the result of the photographic process
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IMAX
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a specialized, big-screen film format about ten times larger than the traditional cinema format (35mm) and three times larger than the standard 70 mm widescreen format; debuted in Osaka Japan at the 1970 Exposition; IMAX films, often short documentaries, 'educational,' travelogue or nature films, are shot and projected on 15 perforation/70mm gauge film - "15/70", the largest film format in existence, which produces incredible high-definition sharpness in films projected on up to eight-story high screens in theatres equipped with advanced digital surround-sound systems; IMAX projection onto a domed screen is called Omnimax
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Examples: Catch the Sun (1973), Volcano (1973), To Fly (1976), Living Planet (1979), Hail Columbia (1982), Behold Hawaii (1982), The Dream is Alive (1985), and many more.
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Film Terms Glossary
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Cinematic Terms
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Definition and Explanation
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Example (if applicable)
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in-camera editing
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refers to filming in the exact order required for the final product, thereby eliminating the post-production editing stage; a fast, albeit unprofessional way to produce a film, often employed by student or amateur film-makers; requires advanced planning to tell the desired story in order; aka in-camera effects, such as double-exposures, split-screen shots, rear-screen and front-projection process shots, etc.
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independents
(indie and independent films)
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small independent, low-budget companies, mini-majors, or entities for financing, producing, and distributing films (i.e., Miramax, New Line Cinema, Polygram) working outside of the system or a major Hollywood studio; however, an indie may lose its independent status when its grows large and powerful; also refers to a movie, director, distributor or producer (sometimes unconventional) not associated with or produced by a major Hollywood film studio; often with groundbreaking subject matter designed for sophisticated audiences, and not necessarily produced with commercial success as the goal, unlike mainstream films
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Example: California-based Miramax, although the leader in the independent film movement in the early 1990s, has become so powerful and successful that it has lost most of its independent studio status; indie films include Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise (1984), and Kevin Smith's Clerks (1994); the cable TV Independent Film Channel showcases indie films; see 50 Greatest Independent Films
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industry, the
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another name for the film or entertainment industry; also referred to as the biz, show business, show-biz, Hollywood, or the town.
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ingenue
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a young, teenaged female actress often in an important or lead role in a film; usually portrays an innocent, sometimes naive, and attractive character; also refers to an actress sometimes known as a starlet; the male counterpart is known as a juvenile.
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Example: young Leslie Caron as Lise in An American in Paris (1951) in contrast to Nina Foch as womanly-wise Milo
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ink
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slang term meaning to 'sign' a contract
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insert shot
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a shot that occurs in the middle of a larger scene or shot, usually a close-up of some detail or object, that draws audience attention, provides specific information, or simply breaks up the film sequence (e.g., a quivering hand above a gun holster in a Western, a wristwatch face, a letter, a doorbell button, a newspaper headline, a calendar, a clock face); an insert shot is filmed from a different angle and/or focal length from the master shot and is different from a cutaway shot (that includes action not covered in the master shot); also known as cut-in.
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Example: an insert shot during the car crash scene with an hysterical Lana Turner, in The Bad and the Beautiful (1954) 
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inside joke
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in a film, an obscure, show-biz related joke that is understood (or realized) only by those who know the reference (outside the context of the film)
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Example: Finding Nemo (2003) names its great white shark Bruce - the same name given to the mechanical shark on the set of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975); in A Clockwork Orange (1971), the soundtrack to Kubrick's earlier film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is very visible in the record store scene
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intercut shots
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usually refers to a series of shots, consisting of two simultaneous events, that are alternated together to create suspense; intercutting can also consist of shots of two people involved in a telephone conversation
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Example: Speed (1994) - the bomb, the bus' speedometer, other action, all intercut 
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interlude
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a brief, intervening film scene or sequence, not specifically tied to the plot, that appears within a film.
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Example: Harpo Marx's musical interlude performances of his harp in the Marx Brothers films.
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intermission
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a break in the middle of a film, normally in a feature-length film of three hours or more (although rare in current-day films); originally, intermissions served as a 'stretch-restroom' opportunity, or provided time for the projectionist to change reels; they often were accompanied by a medley of the film's score - or a song score for musicals; the strategy of film theaters nowadays is to show a film as many times as possible during the day
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Examples: West Side Story (1961), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), My Fair Lady (1964), Doctor Zhivago (1965)
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